CMDN Urges New Olivier Movement Director Award
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- CMDN released a statement after the Olivier awards ceremony praising the recognition of choreography but calling attention to the absence of a dedicated movement director category.
- Fabian Aloise won the Olivier award for best theatre choreographer for Evita at the London Palladium.
- Leanne Pinder was named by CMDN alongside Sarah Golding (Kenrex), Imogen Knight (Dead Man Walking), Jenny Ogilvie (Into the Woods), Sung Im Her (The Glass Menagerie), Lucy Hind (Inter Alia) and Kloé Dean (The Boy at the Back of the Class) as movement directors whose work on nominated productions went unrecognised.
- Black British theatre awards expanded their choreography category in 2022 to include movement direction, whereas the UK Theatre awards and Critics’ Circle theatre awards still have no dedicated choreography or movement category.
- Polly Bennett founded the CMDN in 2023, and the network now has over 200 members.
- Olivier awards faced a petition from theatre professionals to add a separate video design category; this year the set design award went to Tom Pye and Ash J Woodward (video) for Paddington: The Musical, and the lighting design award went to Aideen Malone and Roland Horvath (video) for Into the Woods.
Why it matters: Movement directors stand to receive formal acknowledgement and career‑boosting prestige if the Olivier Awards adopt a dedicated category, while the awards body would need to revise its nomination framework to address the current omission of movement direction and could set a precedent for other UK theatre honors to follow.
